The Strongest Tornado Argument ~ 2024-03-29
While working on the latest documentary video, I began to ponder once again one of the top questions any tornado enthusiast asks themselves; Which tornado is the strongest of all time?
The question should be more realistically worded as, “strongest in recorded history,” since the ACTUAL strongest was probably during some freak event hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, but I digress. This question came back into my head while reading a lot of the accounts from the Guin, AL F5 that took place during the Super Outbreak of 1974. I know Xenia was a preliminary F6, but I definitely fall into the camp that Guin was the strongest tornado in that event for several reasons (sorry, Brandenburg).
The reason I believe Guin is the top dog of the ‘74 Super Outbreak is not only because of the incredible damage in the few photos that exist of it and the boots-on-the-ground testimonies, but due to the surrounding context. Given what we’ve seen in the past few years with Dixie Alley tornadoes, enhanced low-level jet fueled tornadoes are simply vicious. Reanalysis hodograph profiles of the environment at the time of the Guin F5 are strikingly similar to the 2011 Super Outbreak F5s, which we all know are in the conversation for top tornado. While the F5 tornadoes that occurred in the Ohio Valley (Xenia, Brandenburg, Sayler Park, & Depauw) were certainly violent, I don’t believe they compare to an LLJ-fueled Dixie tornado. Obviously we can look at the physical evidence between all of them and compare, but then we just go back to the argument that has always plagued the F/EF scales. I’m an engineer, so I like pointing to data, but there is just a gut-feeling difference when it comes to those wicked Dixie Alley SigTors. If there was more evidence around Guin, then I think it would *maybe* be in the conversation if the evidence supported it, but going off of just personal accounts won’t cut it.
Tanner, Alabama, the unluckiest tornado town in America. (South to North: First Tanner F5 [1974/04/03], Hackleburg-Phil Campbell EF5 [2011/04/27], Second Tanner F5 [1974/04/03]). Graphic via TornadoArchive.org
Back to the original question. There are a few obvious contenders when it comes to the strongest tornadoes of all time. Of course, there are the classic Oklahoma answers; Bridge Creek 1999, Piedmont 2011, Mulhall 1999, and El Reno 2013. These answers are actually based on some pretty solid data points (unless you get into mobile radar error ranges, which can get dicey at the higher velocities). Another contender that gets brought up a lot ventures south of the Sooner State to the hill country of the Lone Star State. Jarrell 1997 is one that is brought up by many, and for good reason (on the surface level at least). The damage it produced is almost like no other tornado. The key problem with the Jarrell argument, which is a big one in my opinion, is the fact it was borderline stationary for multiple minutes where the most intense damage was produced. For that reason, I believe that invalidates the Jarrell argument. Park any strong/violent tornado over homes for minutes and it’s going to slab houses. It’s that simple. Now if there was some more evidence like high resolution radar velocities that add to the argument, then that is a different story, but alas, that is not the case with Jarrell.
From those suspects in the Great Plains, we have to go east. Back to Dixie Alley where the 2011 Super Outbreak EF5s are certainly in the conversation. Of those EF5s, Rainsville is probably the least talked about and definitely has a case to be made that it was the strongest of the bunch. The tornado that probably has the strongest case against any of the Oklahoma monster tornadoes would likely be Hackleburg EF5. Pavement scouring, trenching, and foundations getting swept away is very strong evidence for this tornado being possibly the strongest in recorded history.
On a side note on the Hackleburg EF5… how unlucky is Tanner, AL? Getting hit in BOTH Super Outbreaks AND being hit by TWO F5s in 30 minutes in ‘74?? That is genuinely insane.
At the end of the day, with how complex tornadoes are and the ways of measuring/classifying them being even more complex, there is probably no clear shot answer to which was the strongest. I think there are plenty of arguments that can be made for any of these, but maybe this just means a future June First video where I methodically try to quantify all the various inputs and weigh them in order to get an answer. Just an idea… ;)
Cheers,
Ethan